BB-8 Will Meet BB-9E In The Last Jedi

Globular astromech droid BB-8 will cross paths with his First Order counterpart BB-9E during a scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. BB-8, of course, was one of the breakout stars in The Force Awakens, and now his model of robot is set to be an integral part of the sequel trilogy. In addition to rusty-looking BB units the Resistance uses, the villains of the story will have their own cute droid at their disposal. If it weren’t for the Porgs, BB-9E would have stolen the merchandising spotlight, getting the Sphero and Funko treatments well before the movie comes out.

When BB-9E was first unveiled, many hoped BB-8 would get an opportunity to meet his “evil twin” onscreen. It seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up, and writer/director Rian Johnson made sure to include at least one scene where the two droids interact. Apparently, BB-8 will be trying his hand at sleuthing when the moment finally happens.

Related: What We Know About BB-9E, BB-8’s Evil Twin

In an interview with Empire, Neal Scanlan of the creature workshop offered some details about everyone’s new favorite robot, teasing a sequence that sees BB-8 behind enemy lines, trying to avoid detection:

“There was this one scene in particular where BB-8 is in disguise and has to try and make his way without being recognised. It just seemed so threatening that his doppelgänger would be the very one that may or may not discover him.”

The prospect of BB-8 in disguise harkens back to Star Wars Rebels, where the Ghost crew frequently paints astromech Chopper so he can blend into Imperial environments. This should prove to be quite an amusing sequence, and it’ll be fun to see what hijinks BB-8 gets into. It’s already been confirmed the droid accompanies Finn and Rose Tico on their secret mission for the Resistance, which sees them go undercover on a First Order star destroyer, so his spying should take place during this portion of the film. With Johnson proclaiming BB-8 is the Buster Keaton of the Star Wars universe, the droid duel will provide some levity in a darker movie.

Aside from the droid details, Scanlan also touched on other creature details in the upcoming film. He mentioned that the Porg shown with Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon bears resemblance to the Wookiee in the way he’s colored, and made mention of a connection between the Porgs and Ahch-To’s other native species, the Caretakers:

“With Ahch-To, it felt like the only creatures that would ever exist on this island were those indigenous to it, where very few other species and DNA would have reached them. So they’re an extrapolation from the porgs and have bird-like feet, but they’re a further developed race.”

Outside of Ahch-To, the Crystal Foxes who make a brief appearance in the latest trailer look the way they look on account of evolution. Regarding inspiration for the creature’s design, Scanlon explained that “The theory is they’ve fed off this planet for so long that their fur has become crystalline. They’ve taken on the very surface of the planet they live on.” All of these creatures are unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars before, so it should be fascinating to see how they all fit into the plot.